Needed to be a bit more attacking: Gayle

West Indies skipper Chris Gayle praised the captain's innings played by Mahendra Singh Dhoni but felt a bit more aggressiveness on the part of his bowlers could have helped the team win the third one-dayer at the Beausejour Stadium, in Gros Islet.

Frequent rain interruptions affected the West Indies momentum but Ramnaresh Sarwan ensured they registered a competitive 185 for seven from 27 overs.

However, thanks to a strong opening partnership between Dinesh Karthik and Gautam Gambhir and Dhoni's heroics towards the end, India defeated the West Indies by six wickets via Duckworth-Lewis method and take an unassailable 2-1 lead in the four-match series.

"We felt we had our chance after scoring 185. But we needed to be a bit more attacking at the start of the Indian innings," said Gayle at the post-match ceremony.

The skipper lamented the frequent stoppages due to rain. "Weather made it difficult, but we can't do anything about it. In the end we tried to pull it off but credit to Dhoni, he saw the team home," Gayle added.

Dhoni, meanwhile, said the frequent rain interruptions put them on backfoot as it brought D/L method into play.

"Everytime we thought we were in the game the Duckworth-Lewis got us onto the backfoot. We couldn't use our second Power Play due to that," said Dhoni.

Fourth ODI washed out, India clinch series 2-1

India made amends for their Twenty20 World Cup debacle, winning the one-day international series against West Indies 2-1 after torrential rains washed out the fourth and final ODI at the Beausejour Stadium in St Lucia on Sunday.

The match started an hour late following heavy rains just after India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to field, forcing the umpires to reduce it to a 49-over-a-side affair.

West Indies were 27 for one when rain interrupted play for the second time after they had lost the crucial wicket of skipper Chris Gayle for a duck.

Runako Morton (12 not out) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (12 not out) were at the crease when play was called off.

With this victory, India registered only their second bilateral series triumph in the Caribbean. Last time they won a series in West Indies was in 2002 under Sourav Ganguly's captaincy.


India had earlier won the first match of the series by 20 runs, while West Indies cameback strongly in the second, hammering the Dhoni-led side by eight wickets.

However riding on Dhoni's brilliance, India took the unassailable 2-1 lead, winning the third ODI by six wickets with a ball to spare.

Electing to field, Ishant Sharma gave India the dream start, picking up the vital wicket of Gayle in the second ball of the innings, caught behind by Dhoni with the hosts failing to open their account.

From there on, the West Indian batsmen found runs hard to come by against the accurate bowling of Ishant and Ashish Nehra. The hosts' struggle can be gauged from the fact they failed to struck a single boundary in the 7.3 overs theyfaced.

India, South Africa clubbed in same group in World T20

2007 champions India, South Africa and a qualifier have been clubbed together in Group C for the third edition of the World Twenty20 to be played in the West Indies next year, it was announced by the International Cricket Council in Dubai on Sunday.

Defending champions Pakistan, Australia and Bangladesh are in Group A in the tournament that will start from April 30.

Sri Lanka, who finished runners-up in England, are in Group B with Zimbabwe and New Zealand while the hosts West Indies, England and a qualifier are in Group D.

The opening match of the tournament will be played between the West Indies and a qualifier while India also will start their campaign against a qualifier on May 1.

The 17-day tournament is being held in 2010 just to avoid its clash with the 2011 World Cup in the sub-continent. The semi-finals will be played on May 13 and 14 while the final is slated for May 16.

A total of 27 matches will be played at four venues - Barbados, Guyana, St Kitts and St Lucia, and the Kensington Oval will host the final.

In the women's tournament, which will also be hosted simultaneously, teams have been divided in two groups, A and B.

Champions England, Australia, the West Indies and South Africa are in group A, while India, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Pakistan are in Group B.

Akram slams BCCI for not playing with Pakistan

Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram has criticised the Indian cricket board for showing reluctance to schedule a bilateral series.

The Future Tours Programme draft does not include a single bilateral series between the archrivals, even though the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had promised earlier that the two nations would meet at least once a year.

"The BCCI has been very harsh on Pakistan in not inviting them to play a single match in the future. They do not realise that it is very important for Asia and world cricket that India and Pakistan play together," Akram was quoted as saying by ESPN Mobile.

"India should have been sensitive towards Pakistan cricket and its upliftment in the subcontinent. An India-Pakistan series is even bigger than the Ashes, hence the two nations should actually be playing more often not only to generate revenue but heal whatever political bitterness exists," he said.

Akram however hopes the situation will improve. "India may not have time in 2010 but hopefully they will find space to play Pakistan in the coming years. Sports has a great healing touch and cricket will prove to be a great leveller."

Dhoni remains atop ICC ODI batsmen table

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was on Sunday appointed as India Test team captain following the retirement of Anil Kumble, continued to top the One-Day International batsmen chart in the ICC players ranking issued on Monday.

Dhoni with 793 points is way ahead of his nearest rival Australian Mike Hussey (776) with South African skipper Greame Smith(757) occupying the third spot.

Apart from Dhoni, no other Indian features in the top 10 batsmen ranking with Yuvraj Singh languishing at the 17th spot.

Also, Indian bowlers cut a sorry figure in the bowling ranking as none could make it to the top 20 ODI bowlers chart, which is being headed by left-arm Australian pacer Nathan Bracken. New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori and Australian Mitchell Johnson are in the second and third spot respectively.

Kiwi Jacob Oram leads the all-rounder pack, followed by Andrew Flintoff of England and Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik.

Meanwhile, India, with 113 points, find themselves in the fifth position in the ICC ODI Championship table. Australia is at the top with 131 points, followed by South Africa (118) and England (116).

Yousuf all set to join rebel league?

There was a new twist in Pakistan’s ace batsman Mohammad Yousuf's unending saga with the Indian Cricket League, on Monday. Interestingly, Yousuf left for New Delhi even as the Pakistan Cricket Board selectors decided to name him in the squad for the ODI series against the West Indies scheduled in Abu Dhabi next week.

Though PCB has termed it as a private visit, rumours about him joining the league have gained momentum. Speaking on the development, ICL executive board member Bharat Reddy said, "You will come to know about the league's official stand tomorrow."

But when pressed further, he nodded and said, "It's very likely."

Yousuf has had a bittersweet relationship with the league, with him being involved in a legal wrangle for breach of contract.

The middle-order batsman, who had signed up for the league in August 2007, failed to abide by his contractual obligations and decided to return his advance payment only to join the rival Indian Premier League. As a result, the ICL filed a case against him in Mumbai, which is still pending.

IPL threatens

PTI adds from Karachi: Indian Premier League official and former BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah has threatened to take legal course against Yousuf if the Pakistani batsman returned to the ICL fold.